Everything we've accomplished in Elin's first five months of life!

Needless to say I've been falling farther and father off the blog train. Getting back to my blog has sort of been like getting back on a diet. When I say to myself "I'm going to blog tomorrow," it sounds a lot like "I'll start my diet tomorrow." We all know the truth...it never happens.  Being a new mommy is no walk in the park but I've loved every single minute of it. In the end cuddling my little Elin Grace always seems to win over chores, the computer, exercise and yes, even blogging. However I do miss being able to update all my family and friends across the world on adventures so in effort to catch up I've compiled a blog called "Everything we've accomplished in Elin's first five months of life." Yep, came up with that all by myself. :O

So here we go!

It all started with the birth of one heck of an awesome baby that rocked her mommy and daddy's world. World, meet Elin!

One month later Elin spiked a fever and earned a three day stay at the Children's Hospital. Thankfully, modern medicine is awesome and we got to take our cute bundle of love home.

Two Months: We packed up Elin and took her on her first plane trip. All the way to California. Elin spent two weeks meeting family and friends in Yosemite & San Diego. I actually did blog about that one. Woo! One point for me!

Three months: Elin felt traveling to California wasn't challenging enough so we all embarked on a trip to Denmark & Sweden for two weeks. It's a regular tradition for my side of the family to travel abroad every 2-3 years. It all started with my parents and their good friends Dave & Julie taking a trip to England in 1997. Later trips included Germany, Austria, France, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey & Italy. This year Sweden and Denmark came calling. Elin applied for her first passport and away we went! She is a fabulous traveler and couldn't get enough of the sights. Mommy and Daddy thoroughly enjoyed having two sets of adoring grandparents along for support. 

Helsignor Castle, Denmark

Malmo, Sweden

Malmo, Sweden

Copenhagen, Denmark

Meeting the relatives in Forlanda, Sweden

Four Months: Elin ran her first race. Well sort of. She rode in the jogging stroller while Colin and I pushed her in the Wicked 10k here in Virginia Beach. Since finding a costume for a four month old is rather difficult I dressed her in a tutu! Big surprise there. :)

Five Months: Another first. Elin and I flew by ourselves to San Diego for Thanksgiving. Colin followed later but I definitely gained a new appreciation for moms traveling alone with their little ones. Nursing next to smelly frat brothers, delayed flights, multiple blowouts (and I'm not talking about tires) and exhaustion make for lots of fun stories to share with the relatives. 

Elin had a blast in San Diego, I don't think she was ever put down for the entire stay. There were just too many family members around to play with all this cuteness!

Elin's Baptism 

Aunt Courtney playing with Elin while Colin plays football.

 Some kids go to Chuck E Cheese. Elin goes wine tasting!

We're quickly approaching six months and I cannot believe how fast that came! I promise more is to come (I only promise because I've already starting writing!) about the recent happenings in the Chance family!

April Baby Shower Fun!

So I have to admit things haven't been all that exciting around here lately which is why the blog has taken a backseat. Although I think the real reason is I have avoided the camera like a disease as I've come to find pregnancy weight just isn't all that flattering on me! 

However I did want to share my latest (and last trip before baby) trip to San Diego last month to see my family. It was a great week. My good friend Chelsey came down for a visit with her two boys! My sister Courtney treated us to a Padre game on Friday night which was a blast. Court works for the Pad Squad (the Padre's pep squad) and was able to not only get us park passes but free parking. We were expecting a spot in the parking lot adjacent to the stadium (which totally trumps a $20 spot in the twelve story parking garage that takes 30 minutes to exit after a game). Imagine our surprise when the Chief of Police escorts us to a private spot right in front of the stadium. Apparently it was law enforcement appreciation night, imagine our luck!

The next day my good friend Julie threw me a baby shower at my parent's house. We must have had a good time because we all forgot to take pictures! Thanks to Chelsey we did get a shot of the yard before the guests arrived. 

Navy girls! My good friend Crystal from Guam came with her adorable daughter Caroline. Mickey to my left made an amazing quilt (in ONE day no less!) for the baby. She rocks! Chelsey is looking AH-MAZING after having a baby last year. I hope I can do the same!!

Me in all my enormity with Courtney and my dad before dad escaped the mass arrival of baby shower guests. 

I received a ton of adorable gifts for the baby. Getting it all home was quite a challenge but with the help of my mom and the USPS, we managed to get it home to Virginia. It really makes me realize how fortunate I am, I haven't lived in San Diego in 3 1/2 years but so many women made time to come to my shower! I really had a great time in San Diego and can't wait to bring Baby Girl back to see everyone in a few months!

As if one shower isn't enough my sister Carissa and friend Tessa threw me ANOTHER baby shower in Norfolk last weekend. They did a spectacular job and once again Baby Girl came away quite the winner!

She'll be rockin' some sparkly pink TOMS thanks to Andrea!

Every heard of a diaper wreath? Isn't this awesome? Thank you Sara!

Humble pie moment. My reaction to this object? "Aww, a chew toy!" That's Tessa next to me letting me know that dogs have chew toys, babies have teething rings. I guess I still have a few things to learn....

Rissy made Baby Girl a quilt and diaper bag, The quilt has this awesome yellow minky backing that is super snuggly!

My good friend Mary.

Team J&A: My coworker Kristyn and my boss, Amy. I love them!!

Team Guam. My Guam girls who now live in VA and NC came to celebrate with me!

My neighbor Joanna who gave birth to a baby boy just 8 days before my shower. Isn't she amazing??

The fabulous hostesses with the mostesses! Thanks Tessa & Rissy!

Jumpin' Back on the Travel Train

I must travel a lot, because this is my fourth post in less than three months on my travels! Once again, I'm on the road...only a little sooner than I expected! Being stationed in Guam, the most practical thing to do on a military salary is to Space-A a military flight back to the mainland. Space-A is in a league of its own. Anyone who has been stationed overseas before probably has some experience with this concept. Essentially Space-A is a program for military and their dependents (me) to travel on military aircraft on you guessed it, a space available basis. Anyone who has done this knows the trip NEVER goes as planned. No matter how simple it may look. They can change/cancel the flight at anytime, EVEN after the plane has taken off. I likened myself to media mail, eventually I'll get there on the cheap.

I'd been chasing a flight headed to MCAS Miramar in San Diego for a few days. To catch a flight from Guam to Miramar (when your parents live five minutes from the base) is pretty much hitting Space-A paydirt. A free trip! When I found out that particular flight was taken off the schedule I was a little happy about that only because I wanted to maximize the time I had with Colin. So I quit packing, went to bed and when the alarm went off at 6:20 that morning, I went ahead and checked the schedule to see if maybe the flight popped back up later in the day. Oh it popped up alright. For 6:40am. Needless to say the tornado of Colin and I throwing stuff into my suitcase, grabbing my passport and driving as fast as those rediculous base speed limits allowed us, I ran into the terminal at 6:40. Bam! On the dot. And here's where it gets fun. After forgetting my travel papers and thouroughly ticking off the lady for not only showing up late but forgetting such important papers she said I could check in but ONLY if I could get those papers to her immediately. Colin ran home and got them and before we knew it I was accepted on the flight. Three hours later I found myself strapped into a jumpseat of a ginormous C-17 talking to a a jet squadron of Marines coming home from a 7 month deployment. I was ecstatically talking about how excited I was to be practically flying into my back yard and they gave me some funny looks. I then overheard something about them getting a bus to the hotel when we arrived when my stomach dropped. "Whoa, wait a minute. This plane is going to Miramar, right?" "Well yes of course, we just have to stop in Hawaii for a 48 hour crew rest. We'll head out on Friday or Saturday perhaps." My freak-o-meter about shot through the roof. Here I am stuck on a plane to a place where I could easily caught a plane to next week. Good thing Colin was headed to work already, I didn't want to ruin his day with that news.

So as you might guess I spent the next 7 1/2 hours stewing over this debacle. I tried to make the best of it, I snatched three airplane blankets and a pillow and found a cozy little (I mean little) spot on the cold metal floor and attempted to sleep as the temperature steadily dropped to 40 degrees. I lost feeling in my toes for the rest of the flight as I tried to ignore the A/C blowing on me. I was pretty jealous of the marines who got to monkey climb up onto the storage containers and stretch out for a nap. We arrived in Hawaii pretty late and after Customs confiscated my food (I'm pretty sure she just forgot her dinner and thought my sandwich looked tasty), I fought for my bag bag (they said if I took it with me, I had to give up my ticket to Miramar, seriously?) and was dumped off at the terminal. In both my experiences traveling Space-A I've arrived with no one expecting me. Great feeling. Really. I was lucky (so lucky) to find a flight leaving for Reno six hours later with a ton of seats...sold!

So 8 hours later I was on yet another C-17 to Nevada. This time I chose a seat near the front, away from the vents, still cold but not arctic. I was pretty tired by this point so sleeping (or at least laying, trying to sleep) on an airplane floor with earplugs in my ears was somewhat enticing. We arrived in Reno and since I was the only passenger not staying in Reno I had to find my own transportation to the main terminal. I much have looked pathetic because a guy from the charter jet terminal gave me a ride over there, for free. What a saint! It only got better. I got to the Southwest desk and met the second nicest person I'd seen in awhile. In less than five minutes I had a SWA ticket (no bag fees!!) home. The butterflies finally settled, I'd made it. The trip was uneventful, thankfully and what do you know I sat next to yet another group of jet guys from Miramar heading home from Tailhook in Reno. When I told them I flew to Hawaii with their rival squadron they gave me a funny look (what's with these marines and funny looks?). I'm pretty sure they believed me, or just assumed I'm one very tired, crazy lady.

I must have been tired I slept from 10:00pm until 1:30 the next day! Who doesn't love jet lag?

So for now I'm just enjoying San Diego, I ran the harbor this morning and got a visit to Target in, this girl is happy!